Firing Up Our New Pizza Oven
A couple of weeks ago it was Trial by Fire time as I ramped up my fire-building skills in order to cure our new pizza oven. I'm happy to report that after that first day, it got loads easier. So much so that my colleague Margo True, Sunset's food editor, and I went on to cook a 5-course dinner from the oven.
Pizza party! Tina and Thomas Keller and Margo True toast our new pizza oven with potato pizza (Bianca Pizza) and sparkling wine in Sunset’s test garden.
A couple of weeks ago it was Trial by Fire time as I ramped up my minimal fire-building skills in order to cure our new Forno Bravo Primavera 60 pizza oven. I’m happy to report that after that first day, it got loads easier. So much so that my colleague Margo True, Sunset’s food editor, and I went on to cook a 5-course dinner from the oven.
The first course: pizza! We decided to go for a potato one as a play on meat and potatoes, because our main course was hanger steak. With the oven at 800°, it cooked in just a few minutes. The pizza crust came out crisp and blistered on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and the thinly sliced potatoes, onions, and gouda cheese melted into the top. With a sprinkling of sea salt and some fresh rosemary, it was pretty amazing.
Want to try it? Even if you don’t have a pizza oven, you can make Bianca Pizza on the grill. As for the rest of the five courses, they’ll be part of Sunset’s Great Outdoors Cookbook, available next spring.
